1. Technical Field
The invention relates to the field of heat-dissipating housings for electronic circuit components.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A heat dissipating housing is described in the European patent Nos. 0171051 and 0172485 which comprises a tub and a lid. The heat resistance between the circuit component contained therein and a cooling medium is there substantially reduced, that is, the cooling of the circuit component improved, by a heat conduction plate on which several spring structures and at least one spring element are secured.
Actually the invention there disclosed was developed for a high data speed 200-Mbit/sec light emitting diode module housing with an infrared emitting diode and a driver chip described in the older application, where the high dissipated heat, e.g. 1 W for the driver having an operating temperature of e.g. 125.degree. C., is to be given off as quickly as possible to a cooling medium flowing over the housing, the cooling medium having an initial temperature of about 40.degree. C. and a speed of 100 m/min. Without very special cooling measures, the driver chip will become too hot and is then no longer operationally safe. But the invention is suitable also for a housing containing any circuit component to be cooled well.
It is the object of the present invention to simplify the manufacture of the disclosed housing, and the problem has two aspects:
Firstly, it is desirable to produce a good heat removal from the semiconductor body to the cooling medium, that is, to the outer surface of the housing to be cooled, especially directly to the cover of the housing, but, if needed also, to individual ones or to all of the sidewalls of the bottom tub. Hence the dissipated heat flows from the circuit component
via the spring structures directly to the cover and thence to the cooling medium, and/or PA1 via the spring structures and via the bottom tub sidewalls touched by them and directly via their outer surfaces to the cooling medium, and/or PA1 the spring structures and via these bottom tube sidewalls first upward to the cover and over the outer surface thereof to the cooling medium. PA1 to be able to first mount the circuit component, such as a housingless driver chip, firmly on the heat conducting body or on a support, firmly connectable or connected with the heat conducting body, such as a ceramic support, and to test it, for example, even before the heat conducting body is fitted with the circuit component--the heat conducting body in particular, consisting of metal, in particular, a CuMo alloy--and is fixed on the bottom of the bottom, for example, by spot welding or by soldering in a manner suitable also for mass production, and/or PA1 to be able to reach an increased heat capacity near the circuit component in the interior of the housing for the buffering of high heat peaks. PA1 to make an especially deep side gap, into which the contacting spring structure can be inserted particularly deep and, hence, especially well adhering. PA1 reducing the danger of the cover slipping out of place while being attached--by, for example, a roll seam welding process--on the bearing surface of the bottom tub sidewalls.
The described spring structures, the at least one spring, the element and the cover must be especially easy to manufacture.
Secondly, at the same time, adjusting and centering of the cover on the bottom tube before it is secured is to be achieved by especially simple means, so that, without additional adjusting measures during mass production, the danger of the cover slipping out of place while being secured--preferably, heremetically tight--on the bottom tub, that is, for instance, on being soldered or roll seam welded, is reduced. The invention thus simplifies also the attachment of the cover to the bottom tub, in that it is no longer necessary to apply adjusting means, such as additional bosses, stops or bevels, on the cover and/or on the sidewalls of the bottom tub to avoid slippage of the cover. However, the present invention permits carrying out such adjusting measures easily while obtaining a still improved centering precision.